Motions now out for next week's LANAC Conference

As LANAC Convenor, I already know of a good geographical spread of NUT Associations who will be represented on Saturday. Just this afternoon, both Gravesham and Barking & Dagenham NUT reported to me at today's AAA AGM that they will be attending the LANAC Conference too!

The meeting is on Saturday, February 1st, from 11am at Leicester Adult
Education College, Wellington Street Leicester LE1 6HL. It will be a vital Conference to discuss the plans to build a clear strategy to defeat Gove's attacks on pay, pensions and conditions.

We will be meeting right after the next NUT National Executive meeting on Thursday. Let's hope that, after that NEC, we will then have a firm date for the next strike action
that we can build for. However, LANAC has
consistently argued that the decisions
shouldn’t just be about the next action
date but should also map out a calendar of
action that can show both Michael Gove and
our members that we have a serious
strategy to defeat these attacks.Four different motions are published on the LANAC website, but this is the motion entitled 'Escalation to Win':

LANAC:

1)Restates our
determination to do everything we can to build the strongest possible action to
defeat the attacks on teachers pay, pensions and conditions.

2)Congratulates the NUT
and NASUWT members who strongly supported the regional strike actions in June
and October 2013 and urges teachers to build the further campaign of action
necessary if we are to reverse the attacks we face.

3)Recognises that
confidence built through those regional strikes may have been damaged by the
postponement of the strike action promised, firstly, in November, and then by
the further delay beyond the announced deadline of February 13.

4)Congratulates those
members of the NUT National Executive who opposed those delays and called for
the NUT action to proceed, with the NUT continuing to invite the NASUWT to
reconsider their opposition and continue joint strike action.

5)Recognises the
advantages of joint action but also the dangers in allowing the outlook of
another union’s leadership to set the agenda for the campaign. LANAC calls on
NASUWT members to demand their Union takes joint action with the NUT.

6)Believes that it was a
mistake for the Unions to claim that they has won an offer of ‘genuine
dialogue’ with Michael Gove when he had consistently made clear that he had no
intention of offering genuine talks to try and resolve our dispute.

7)Believes that to build
firm support for action, and to answer any confusion that the delays and
mistaken claims of ‘talks’ may have created, it is now even more important for
the NUT to demonstrate to members – and to the Government – that it is
implementing an action strategy that is strong enough to force Gove into
genuine negotiations and for the Government to retreat from its attacks.

8)Calls for the NUT to
adopt a strategy that includes:

a)A calendar of ongoing national
action – not just isolated strike days

b)Escalation from one to
two-day action – warning Gove that more could follow

d)Co-ordinating action
with other unions, including, if they are willing, the NASUWT

e)A national work-to-rule
to resist any attempt to worsen conditions

f)A public campaign to build
support for our action and to defend education

9)Calls on the NUT to
promote much clearer objectives for the campaign so that teachers know the
goals that we are aiming to achieve through taking action.10) Finally, recognising the urgent need for wider
debate about the Union’s strategy, and the support that was shown for the
candidate supported by LANAC for NUT Vice-President, LANAC agrees to also back
candidates in the NUT General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary elections
and to call on NUT Local Associations to nominate those candidates and to
campaign in their support

Martin Powell-Davies

* Brought up as a socialist by parents who hungered for what is right * One adopted grandfather left me a double-barrelled name, the other his name on a 1926 General Strike black-list * Joined the Labour Party as a teenager, left it when it abandoned the values and traditions of so many who built it in the past * Given a comprehensive education at St.Andrew's, Leatherhead * First-class degree from King's College, Cambridge, for those who like that kind of thing * Secondary science teacher in London 1986-2015 * Lewisham NUT Secretary 1993-2015, organiser of many campaigns to defend teachers and education * Living in Sydenham since 1997, father of four who were all so well-supported by Sedgehill School * Member of the NUT National Executive 2010-15 * NUT London Regional Secretary 2016 - * Proud to have been name-checked by Gove for saying that his 'reforms' could make teaching unbearable * Member of the CWI, following its global struggles via http://www.socialistworld.net * Candidate for TUSC in Lewisham West & Penge, 2015 * Member of Penge CC, often a 'Middle Aged Man In Lycra' on Sundays